NTSB Offers New Details Into Newington, NH Railroad Death

The Pan Am Railways conductor killed in a railroad accident last month in Newington became caught between two train cars, federal investigators said.

Dale Jenkins, 61, of Seabrook, died in the incident on SubCom industrial tracks that occurred May 19 at about 2:15 p.m.

“Immediately before the accident, the train crew moved the two loaded railcars east into the industrial track and successfully coupled them to the first railcar in the track,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials said in a preliminary report.

“Two of the three railcars to be picked up were not properly coupling together after five previous attempts to couple them,” the NTSB said. “The conductor was pinched between the two coupling mechanisms during the sixth attempt to couple the railcars.”

The train crew at the time consisted of Jenkins, a 42-year railway worker, and an engineer with 34 years of experience. Pan Am Local D01 was dropping and picking up train cars at the SubCom track at the time, the report said.

Jenkins was taken to a nearby hospital after the incident where he died from his injuries.

SubCom is located near the Piscataqua River off Woodbury Avenue. The company makes equipment for the undersea cable industry.

The full NTSB probe of this incident will likely take a year or longer.